title: Diversifying microRNA sequence and function.
abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate the expression of most genes in animals, but we are only now beginning to understand how they are generated, assembled into functional complexes and destroyed. Various mechanisms have now been identified that regulate miRNA stability and that diversify miRNA sequences to create distinct isoforms. The production of different isoforms of individual miRNAs in specific cells and tissues may have broader implications for miRNA-mediated gene expression control. Rigorously testing the many discrepant models for how miRNAs function using quantitative biochemical measurements made in vivo and in vitro remains a major challenge for the future.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA), Vienna, Austria. stefan.ameres@ imba.oeaw.ac.at
authors.forename: Stefan L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Ameres
authors.forename: Phillip D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Zamore
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D012323:RNA Processing, Post-Transcriptional / Q000502:physiology; D020871:RNA Stability / Q000235:genetics; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs